BK21 Program of Bio-Molecular Function Seminar

 

▶Subject : Regulatory Mechanisms of Hepatitis C Virus Replication

▶Speaker : Min Kyung Yi (The Univ. of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston)

▶Date : 4:00PM / July 22 (Fri) / 2011

▶Place : 1st Floor, Conference Room
 
*Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small enveloped virus that causes severe human diseases, including chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently more than 170 million people are chronically infected worldwide with this pathogen, resulting in more than 300,000 deaths annually. One of the most defining signatures of HCV infection is its persistent nature. The difficulty of detecting HCV antigens from infected liver samples and the lack of early symptoms suggest that HCV may have a tight control of its own replication to establish chronic infection. Previously, we reported the establishment of the genotype 1a HCV (H77S ) in vitro infection system. In the present study, we discovered that cell-culture generated H77S virus establishes chronic infection in Chimpanzee, unlike genotype 2a JFH1 or its chimeras. Since the replication efficiency of these two HCV is different, these results suggest that the mode of replication of HCV or the sequence of the HCV genome may pre-determine the chronic nature of HCV infection.  Recently, we determined that viral nonstructural protein NS2 is critically involved in the virus particle assembly process through its interaction with both envelope proteins and the components of replication complex NS3 and NS5A located adjacent to lipid droplets (LD). Our most recent preliminary study suggests that HCV may regulate its own replication by modulating the stability of this essential protein. We consider that self-regulation of its own replication could be one of mechanism for HCV to establish chronic infection in human.

☎ Inquiry : Prof. Young Chul Sung(279-2294)